The Daily Thistle
The Daily Thistle
Sunday 23rd October 2016
"Madainn Mhath” …Fellow Scot, I hope the day brings joy to you.. Lite Showers most of the night but as Bella and I leave the house this morning it’s stopped.. the rain when it fell would be described by the Navajo Indians as “Lady Rain” soft and gentle… just enough to dampen the dust and make the leaves on the plants shine… Down to the beach this morning.. the oceans as flat as a mill pond.. Thick cloud is building over the mountains behind Estepona that form the spine all the way along the southern coast of Spain, where African Tectonic plate is sliding under the European Plate thus forming the mountains and the occasional earthquakes we have.. but enough of the geology lessons let’s get back to the house and the fresh coffee that’s should have finished brewing by the time I get back…
Good Morning I’m Robert McAngus and this is The Daily Thistle…. If your of a nervous nature I suggest you stop reading now…A 7ft vampire roaming the streets of Glasgow, a poltergeist haunting an iconic Edinburgh graveyard and a monster locked up in an Aberdeenshire castle are just a few of the terrifying tales featured in a new guide to the country’s most ‘spooktacular’ locations. Tapping into the growing popularity of “dark tourism”, the guide, compiled by national tourism organisation VisitScotland, also features The Green Lady - a spectre said to haunt Crathes Castle in Aberdeenshire - the fabled Gorbals Vampire, which was the subject of a much-publicised hunt involving hundreds of schoolchildren at Glasgow Necropolis in September 1954, and the ghosts of soldiers spotted on the battlefield of Culloden. Among the other spine-chilling places explored in the online book is “Scotland’s Ghost Road” – the A75 in Dumfries & Galloway – which has been the scene of various unexplained phenomena over the years; Edinburgh’s Greyfriars Kirkyard, said to be haunted by the ghost of Lord Advocate George “Bluidy” Mackenzie; and Glamis Castle in Angus – which is supposedly home to a mysterious monster. Famous Scottish legends such as the Loch Ness Monster, the Kelpie and the Ghillie Dhu are also featured, with each entry in the book accompanied by the places to visit for a haunting holiday experience. Malcolm Roughead, chief executive of VisitScotland, said the organisation was also opening an online forum for people to discuss their experiences of spooky goings on in Scotland. He said: “Scotland’s ancient castles and extraordinary landscapes, coupled with our rich tradition of storytelling, means that spine-chilling tales of ghosts, monsters and other unexplained phenomena are plentiful. I’d love to hear from anyone with a spooky Scottish story to tell.”
I thought this to be quite frightening…especially if you’re a Vegan…Greggs is trialing a new service that allows offices to have steak bakes delivered straight to their front door. A ￡25 minimum order means Greggs Delivered is designed more for workplace team lunches than a sudden craving for a pasty, and the 14,000-strong workforce at Cobalt Business Park in North Tyneside is the first to test it. London, Newcastle and Manchester city centres will be the next to trial the service. Greggs retail director Raymond Reynolds said: “Convenience is key in the food-on-the-go market and we are extremely excited to offer delivery of a selection of our great tasting freshly prepared food directly to our customers by trialing a free delivery service in one of our Newcastle shops. “We will be increasing the number of trial shops in the weeks ahead and will share more information on this as it becomes available.” The high street bakery, which has 1,700 shops nationwide and serves more than six million customers a week, posted a 6% rise in sales to ￡422 million while like-for-like sales lifted by 3.8% during the six months to July 2. It said the figures had been boosted by Britons buying its healthier ranges, which now account for more than 10% of sales and include new products such as teriyaki chicken noodle and falafel with humus.
While not in Scotland, it fits the topic today… It is often dubbed Dracula’s Castle and lies on a remote hilltop in Transylvania in the Romanian countryside. Now Castelul Bran, which once housed the bloodthirsty prince who inspired Bram Stoker’s famous vampire tale, is to open its doors to overnight guests - on Hallowe’en. The castle in the Carpathian mountains – which is one of Romania’s top tourist attractions with more than 630,000 visitors a year – previously hosted Vlad Tepes, a real-life prince with a cruel habit of using stakes to impale his victims’s heads, almost 600 years ago. Tepes is believed to have inspired the Dracula character in Stoker’s horror novel. Accommodation website AirBnB has launched a competition to find guests for the night, who will be wined and dined, then left alone to lie down in red velvet-trimmed coffins as Dracula did in Stoker’s book. The evening will be hosted by a descendent of the author, Dacre Stoker, who will play the role of Jonathan Harker, a character from the novel who encounters Dracula. “I want to make it both realistic and show the legend in the wonderful country that birthed the whole thing,” he said. When the winners arrive in a horse-drawn carriage, he plans to greet them using the same words Dracula used in his ancestor’s story: “Welcome to my house! Enter freely. Go safely, and leave something of the happiness you bring!”
Students at the University of St Andrews have marked the annual Raisin Weekend celebrations with the now customary foam fight. Held on the university's Lower College Lawn, the event is centred around the 'Academic Parent' tradition in which older students 'adopt' first years (known as bejants and bejantines) in a guiding and mentoring arrangement. Two students covered in foam embrace post-foam fight. Picture: PA Traditionally, students were said to arrive at St Andrews with a bag of oatmeal and barrel of salt-herring, with anything more exotic regarded as a luxury. In return for guidance from the 'Academic Parents', a pound of raisins was passed over in exchange for a receipt known as the 'Raisin Receipt.' Since the 1800s, the raisins have gradually been replaced with more modern alternatives - such as wine and spirits - while the 'Raisin Receipt' has also evolved. Written in Latin, the 'Raisin Receipt' has grown from a piece of paper into anything that can be written on, and must be carried everywhere by first year students on Raisin Monday morning, until noon. Any older student can stop a bejant or bejantine and demand to see the Latin. If they find a mistake, the first year student must recite or sing Gaudeamus igitur or the 'Gaudie'; a song usually performed at university graduation ceremonies. Formerly held in St Salvator's Quadrangle, the foam fight takes place on 'Raisin Monday' and sees numerous first year students attack each other with shaving foam, usually while wearing outlandish costumes. The preceding weekend is spent at parties with the 'Academic Family' and usually involves copious amounts of alcohol.
Well my Fellow Scot, That's the news for Saturday, so now you know...
Our photograph of Scotland today is of Balmoral Castle the home of the Queen in Scotland ...
As always It’s a pleasure to have your company this Sunday 23rd October 2016 , and as I always say, it’s great to have someone to talk too in the wee hours as I write...And I do mean it when I say Thank you for your comments and memories please keep them coming.. Have a comfortable and safe day, but please remember it's a dangerous world we live in, be safe out there.. now I don't know about you but I’m off to the kitchen to get myself another cup of coffee, Colombian of course…I made enough for you too.. Want one??
Robert McAngus
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